BEIRUT: Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi accused Hezbollah of exploiting the Lebanese Army’s relentless fight against jihadi militants to revive the three-way equation of “army, people and resistance," which bestowed legitimacy to Hezbollah’s military wing.
“We would like to remind Hezbollah that there is no going back in time, and that the party’s attempt to revive the wooden (non-flexible) equation of army, people and resistance, which had been dropped from the government’s policy statement, is an attempt to outsmart us,” Rifi, who belongs to the Future Movement, said in a statement Monday.
Rifi accused Hezbollah of hiding behind security institutions which he said were “paying the price of the party’s political adventures and subordination to Iran.”
“You’d better stop exposing Lebanon to danger by pulling out from Syria,” Rifi said.
“The nation is going through a crisis which requires giving all possible support to the Army and security institutions to enable them to protect Lebanon.”
“As for the illegitimate (Hezbollah) weapons, which you are placing at the disposal of Iran’s regional agenda, it is utterly unacceptable,” Rifi added.
The Future Movement official was responding to Hezbollah’s deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem who underlined in a speech Sunday that combating rampant jihadi terrorism from Syria necessitated the combined efforts of the Army, Hezbollah’s armed resistance and backing of the Lebanese.
Qassem was speaking at a ceremony one week after the deaths of six Hezbollah fighters in an Israeli attack on their convoy in Syria’s Golan Heights.
“Only the Army and the legitimate security forces can protect the nation and the citizens,” Rifi added.
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